Tag Archives: district attorney

Texas Symposium on Exonerations, bad forensics, bad prosecutions and the death penalty.

Anyone out there knowing a DA supporting the death penalty as a secure means of doling out proper justice in the US might do well to send him/her the information flyer showing the topics being discussed in Houston this August. … Continue reading

Posted in criminal justice, criminal justice reform, death penalty | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Advances of science affects some convictions – so far bitemarks aren’t included

The resounding inconsistencies in how US courts “handle” forensic expertise is brain-numbing. The Mississippi Supreme Court and the state attorney General Jim Hood’s go to chief appellate guy, Jason Davis (pictured above), are still investing in the now bitemark rejecting … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, Bitemarks, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, forensic science reform | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forensics: Focus on bitemark beliefs and “The Syndrome”

While spending nearly a full May 5th springtime time day listening to the “Country Dentist” Dr Michael West lavish a Mississippi courtroom with his god-like powers of forensic observation aided by a blue light flashlight, I began to reflect on … Continue reading

Posted in Bite Marks, Bitemarks, criminal justice reform, CSI, death penalty, Dr. Michael West, exoneration, forensic testimony | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Excellent “DNA Newsletter” on forensics, prosecutions, junk experts, and more

Forensics in the News A republish from the NY Legal Aid Society’s  “DNA Newsletter” @CeliaGivens 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals rules in US v. Carpenter that the government did not violate defendants’ Fourth Amendment rights by collecting cell site … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

DNA ruled contamination from “unknown persons” over bitemark now ineffective for new Prade trial

Nothing but eyewitness testimony was used to convict Prade of murdering his wife. The court refuses to concede that neither unknown DNA taken from the “bitemark area” nor the pseudo-science of the prosecution’s bitemark expert would be grounds for a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Texas leading massive review of criminal cases based on change in DNA calculations

For those who commented that the recent “updating” of DNA population mixture statistics would be merely a mini-blip in its potential effect on criminal cases, this Texas state-wide revisit of DNA aided convictions should be a downer. Galveston County District Attorney … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Forensics: Cross exam of a crime lab DNA tech gets high marks for drama

This case has some excellent insight into how a defense attorney finds a crack in a lab tech’s QA protocols [ she spit on a DNA sample] and then tries to blow up all the other work-product used by the … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Forensics : DAs mess up their own DNA evidence and judge lets them use it against the defense

Douglas Prade has spent over 29 years in prison, then was released by another judge for 16 months and then re-imprisoned since July 2014 by another judge. The physical evidence (a bitemark)  of his identification presented at the original trial that … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, costs of wrongful convictions, CSI, junk forensic science | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Respected DNA experts Rudin, Inman, and Seigel weigh into DC Crime Lab politics and DNA “secret” statistics”

The following is an excerpt of some of the juicer parts of a in-depth after action article by Norah Rudin and Keith Inman in the California Association of Criminalists news letter. They dissect (the long article with accompanying documents starts … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Another Amazing Story of Texas Justice being Brought to Task by DNA and Evidence Destruction

Years after being freed from death row, East Texas man fights to clear name This story is decades long and runs from Dallas, the Texas Monthly, Smith County Texas to New York and back. Now its all about motions for … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment